


Break

by marvelandimagine



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Love, M/M, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 16:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6247960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelandimagine/pseuds/marvelandimagine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stucky. How Steve and Bucky feel during the battle over the Potomac. Based on a Tumblr prompt with the word "break."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Break

Steve looked out across the platform, his heart sinking at the expressionless eyes staring back at him; eyes without any light or affection. Without memory.

His own eyes filled with sorrow, Steve gazed at the man he had called his best friend, the man he loved so much that it felt like someone had ripped out his own soul when he watched him fall into the unforgiving ice and snow below. That man had to be there, buried deep under HYDRA’s torture. He had to be. He couldn’t lose him again. But he couldn’t let him win.

“People are gonna die, Buck. I can’t let that happen.”

The soldier remained still, the dark look on his face flooding Steve with waves of pain.

Steve blinked back tears and swallowed, his voice breaking at the thought of having to hurt Bucky. Of Bucky never being able to remember who he was, who Steve was.

The next words came choked from Steve’s mouth, heavy and fearful as he begged Bucky to come back to him.

“Please don’t make me do this.”

In the intensity of Bucky’s cold gaze lay the the silent refusal to acquiesce to Steve. There lay the definitive answer for Steve: that even if he couldn’t save his love, he was going to have to stop him.

And with every blow that he struck on Bucky, with every bullet that pierced through Steve’s bone and flesh, the only pain he could feel was the searing agony of his heart being torn apart.

But he knew he still had to believe in himself. He had to believe in Bucky. He had to believe in them.

As Steve slid the last cartridge into place, disabling HYDRA’s weapon, the pain is his chest heightened as he looked and saw the soldier trapped beneath the fallen metal structure. And the look in the soldier’s eyes was not deadened, but one of fear and panic. Of struggle. Of emotion.

Bucky was in there somewhere, and Steve was desperate to bring him back. If he couldn’t, he would die trying.

As Steve’s body reached its breaking point, Bucky swung himself out from under the metal, panting with frustration as he looked up at the man who just saved him.

“Bucky,” Steve began gently but resolutely, “you know me.”

The solider remained silent before attacking Steve with his metal arm, his confusion and rage pouring outward. “NO, I DON’T!” he roared, watching in bewilderment as the man from the bridge took the punch without protest. Did he really know him?

Steve stood up shakily, his love for the man in front of him keeping him upright. “Bucky,” he said in the same, steady tone. “You’ve known me your whole life.”

Another searing strike to the face from the soldier, crying out like a wounded animal refusing rescue.

Smoke and flame filling his lungs and clouding his eyes, Steve’s gaze still managed to pierce through to fix on Bucky; the pain in his own eyes stirring something within Bucky that unnerved the soldier. Why did he feel like this, why did he feel?

Steve could sense the world around him starting to slip, but he held onto Bucky’s chance at salvation like a lifeline.

“Your name is James Buchanan Barnes,” he panted desperately.

It was too much for the soldier. “SHUT UP,” he screamed, his voice raising an octave as the torrent of rage and pain inside him flared out.

In that moment, Steve made his decision. Rising once again from the hard glass, he stared out at his Bucky, his best friend.

The soldier’s veins filled with panic; why was this man looking at him like that?

“I’m not gonna fight you,” Steve said simply, dropping his shield through the exposed tile and down into the churning waters below. He fought to keep tears from spilling over, looking at the man he loved with a sad expression, the corner of his mouth turning up in desperation.

“You’re my friend.”

The ringing in Steve’s head as the soldier tackled him with a roar was nothing compared to the torment inside him; the splinters of his heart pulling apart and stabbing at his rib cage like the broken glass around him.

Bucky looked down at him, his jaw set and his voice shaking, “You’re my mission.”

One, two, three, four, five, six shots to the head. Six shots straight to Steve’s heart.

But still, no tears escaped from him, no desire to protect himself from the onslaught of violence against his body because the worst kind of agony had already taken over his heart and soul. But he refused to die before telling Bucky what he meant to him.

Steve gazed up at Bucky through the one eye not obscured by cuts and swelling, taking in the horrified and pained look on Bucky’s face as the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.

“Then finish it, ‘cause I’m with you ‘till the end of the line.”

The meaning was clear to both men, and that meaning is why the solider saved Steve from drowning. Because in that statement, there lay hope and friendship, and there lay three hidden words: “I love you.”


End file.
